Disclaimer: I still love and miss Bones, it owns my heart I don't own it.
9AM
She stood in front of the motley group of her coworkers and select grad students. Usually this was Booth's division, the emotional side of things. But today it was hers. It was hers because it was one of hers that had betrayed them, one of hers that had possibly cost Booth his job. She was experiencing a multitude of feelings, some of which were new to her. Some of with which she was all to acquainted. She felt embarrassment, she felt shame, she felt betrayed and she felt really hung over. No, this world of excessive feelings was not hers; she dwelled in the realm of truth and logic. She was used to facts so she just started spurting them; one, to cover her embarrassment about her actions the previous night and two as an outlet of anger that someone so close to her could betray her trust in such an overt manner.
"Anthropologically speaking, alcohol consumption has been around since the Neolithic period (around 10,000 B.C.). It is widely believed that beverages were being fermented during this time and that beer was already able on a wide scale. And as far back as 4,000 years ago Egyptian drawings and pictographs show wine as a common part of life at the time. They were resolute about their beer and wine believing the god Osiris invented beer. Beer and wine have been offered up to the gods as divine offering in many developing civilizations."
She looked out at the faces of her so called friends and remembered they too celebrated into the wee hours of the morning with her and Booth and probably had the same ill effects of alcohol consumption that she had. So she thought now would be the time to remind them what alcohol actually does to the body in hopes to explain her behavior the night before.
" As most of you know, after alcohol is ingested, it eventually makes it to the small intestine and is absorbed. As alcohol flows through the blood stream and it is metabolized by the liver, where the alcohol is broken down by enzymes. The liver can, on average, metabolize about one drink in one hour. Alcohol consumed in addition to this amounts can generally not be processed by the liver. When this happens, your blood becomes saturated and the additional alcohol makes its way to your body tissues including your brain. Alcohol binds directly to the receptors for acetylcholine, serotonin, GABA, and the NMDA receptors for glutamate. Current research supports the idea that initial exposure to alcohol activates the reward pathway releasing NMDA in the Nucleus accumbens, which in turn sends messages to the cortex to be coded as experiences and perhaps as memories."
She had naturally launched into teacher mode and then she looked out at her gathered audience and noticed not one of them were paying attention to her informative diatribe in fact, most had eyes rolled back in their head with sighs escaping, acting much like stubborn children who have grown tired of the same lecture from their parents.
So she decided to change her tactics. She gathered her nerve and then said something that rarely left her overconfident mouth, something that caused the mouths of those around her to drop open this time in surprise.
"I wish to apologize to all of you for my behavior last night; it was inacceptable for someone of my social, professional and academic standing".
Angela, being her best friend was the first of the crowd to speak. She stood up, hugged her then looked at her friend with a toothy grin and said, "Sweetie, you had a little too much to drink and got a little wild, no one thinks any less of you. I mean who hasn't had one of those nights when you throw caution to the wind?"
"Like jumping over a broom on a beach somewhere with a Atlantean god and waking up married?" This snide comment came from a very hung over and bitter Dr. Hodgins.
"Yeah, like that" Angela said contemptuously as she sat down and took Wendell's hand in hers. Wendell looked down at their entwined hands and smiled.
"That behavior is explainable for most situations but it does not cover the actions that took place last night. I am not just referencing Booth's and my behavior but that of the one who recorded the incident." Brennan began.
She took a deep breath in order to center herself. Her emotions were starting to get the best of her. The color change began on her neck and was slowly creeping up to her cheeks it could not be explained away as just embarrassment but also the intense anger she felt as she looked out at the one who betrayed them.
"It was bad enough to have the DC police come and take us down the police station in our less than suitable attire but to come home to find that we had been betrayed by one of our own in such a crude and public manner. Add to this sad state of affairs another level of urgency, Booth is right now meeting with his boss fighting for his and by default mine, really, all our jobs."
"Wait a minute", this time it was Cam who was standing, "Are you implying that one of us is responsible for that video of you two splashing around in your underwear"?
"I am implying nothing, I am stating a fact. The DC police traced the video submission to the home computer account of someone in this room."
All the attendees of Brennan's meeting began looking around the table at one another. Shock shown on all their faces. Each one wondering who the guilty party was, each one making their own wild assumptions about who they think did this, each one beginning to get angry in their own right.
"Who?" This from the forlorn Dr. Hodgins. "Who here would have done that?"
All eyes turned to Dr. Brennan.
She took another deep breath and steadied herself and looked up directly at Cam.
"Dr. Saroyan, Would you care to answer that question?"
Cam jumped once again to her feet. "Me. You're accusing me?"
"Sit down Cher" A southern voice came booming from the door.
"Ms. Julian this is a private meeting." Dr. Brennan began to say.
"I know exactly what this is Cher and I am here to stop you from jumping to conclusions and making another fool out of yourself today".
"I beg your pardon, but the DC police informed Booth and me this morning that the video originated at Dr. Saroyan's internet connection, with Michele down in Florida for the summer that leaves only Dr. Saroyan at her home at 4 AM this morning to place it on that website, those are the facts. I am not jumping to conclusions as you say, I never jump to conclusions."
"I did not…" Cam jumping back up from her chair.
"I said sit down Cher" Caroline Julian said in a powerful voice that had all in the room wincing. "You too Ms. Never Jump to conclusions, I'd say you've been jumping to and into a lot of things lately" As she chuckles to her own little joke, no one else dared even smile at this point.
"Sit down and let me tell you a story." She held a hand up when Dr. Brennan started to interrupt. "It behooves you to listen to this story."
"Last night was a grand celebration and I noticed all of you were quite enjoying yourselves. I was making the rounds in our little soiree when I noticed the two of you" Nodding towards Dr. Brennan, "Sneak of out the door giggling like school girls. Well my trouble radar went off so I decided to follow you. Actually, I have to admit that I was hoping to catch a few steamboats."
Confusion was seen around the room, the select few who understood were trying hard to hide their grins, with exception of one who was staring down at her clasped fingers.
"So," continued , "I followed the two of you, and I have to say, you two were something, do you even remember drawing smiley faces on the windows of all the cars with your lipstick, as the two of you walked down to the mall?"
Dr. Brennan, head still bowed merely shook her head no.
"Then when I saw you kick off your shoes, I was feeling quite puckish at this point so I got out my i-phone and thought I would take a picture of the two of you, you know something to have in my arsenal next time the two of you want a warrant in 5 minutes notice. It wasn't until later until I realized that I had actually recorded the whole thing."
It was then that Cam spoke up. "But how did that video get sent from my address?"
"Well, I was on my way home when I saw you missy, staggering down the street with a bottle of champagne in one hand and your shoes in another. I offered you a ride home, you passed out in my car on the way there. I was trying to walk you to your door you woke up and asked me where I had gone to and I told you what I had seen, that I had a picture of it. You insisted on seeing it, that's when I discovered it was a video. But you were passed out again. So I thought about putting the video somewhere you could see it, I used your wireless connection to access my you-tube account. Honestly Cher, I thought I was just uploading it to my account to show to y'all later. It wasn't until 6 this morning that I realized I had published it. I would never have done it if I had known."
Dr. Brennan, head still bowed, nodded in recognition of the implied apology.
"Came straight here from the FBI, you'll be happy to know that they have not fired Agent Booth, but they are requiring the two of you to up your appointments with Dr. Sweets."
Dr. Brennan looked up with a slight smile on her face. "Well, that's something isn't it."
Just then her cell phone beeped an incoming message, 'LUNCH? DINER?'
She typed back 'NOON'
AUTHORS NOTE: Thanks again for all your kind thoughts and reviews. I had really meant 3AM to be a one shot but thanks to all of your encouragement I have added 8AM and now 9AM. It really was not meant to be a series so I will continue adding one at a time. I think I will continue with maybe 2 more. I bet you can guess the next…so keep a look out for NOON. It may be a few days until I can get to it. Please review and let me know what you think.